LCA study confirms positive impact of glass packaging and recycling

The North American glass container industry has taken a pioneering step in producing the first complete and thorough cradle to- cradle life cycle assessment (LCA) ever conducted for this industry.

The LCA, coordinated by the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) and conducted by PE Americas, reaffirms the benefits of glass container recycling for the environment. PE Americas was examining each step from raw material extraction to end-use. The closed-looped cradle-to-cradle LCA collected data from 105 furnaces representing 75 percent of North American glass container production.

The use of recycled glass (cullet) in manufacturing results in a decrease in primary energy demand and reduces carbon emissions. A “cradle-to-cradle” LCA includes the entire cradle-to-grave life cycle of a product while factoring in the recycling of the used product back to its original purpose.

“The study shows increased cullet helps reducing energy emissions, conserve raw materials, extend the life of glass manufacturing furnaces, and save energy.” said Joseph Cattaneo, president of the Glass Packaging Institute  

While other industries claim that the transportation of glass bottles has more of an environmental impact because of the weight of the containers, a key finding of the LCA dismisses this claim. The transportation of raw materials and cullet used in glass production represents less than 4 to 5 percent of the total energy used in the production of container glass.

While each glass container has its own carbon profile, on average, existing recycle rates offset the CO2 burden when shipping foods and beverages across America. The 50 percent recycled content rate will only serve to further reduce carbon emissions.

“The North American glass container industry purposely conducted a cradle-to-cradle LCA to obtain a total picture of our industry’s environmental impact,” said Mr. Cattaneo. “We knew that for an LCA to be useful and to serve as an appropriate benchmark, it had to be cradle-to-cradle. For consumers and retailers to be able to compare the environmental impact of one packaging material to another, all industries should consider conducting complete life cycle analyses. Only then will we have clarity.”

To download the complete report enter our resource section on www.pe-international.com

For more information on the North American glass container industry LCA, please visit www.gpi.org/LCA.

LCA in Design Conference

Pete Girard, Senior Consultant with PE Americas will speak at the Life Cycle Assessment Sustainable Product Design Conference occurring October 26 and 27 in Miami, FL, USA. His presentation will be part of a panel discussion on: Prioritizing Design Efforts. The session is intended to discuss assessing strategies to prioritize sustainability efforts in the product design process to get the best portfolio of green products.

Pete will address several topics with regards to LCA as part of the design process including: Establishing sustainability into the product development process, material considerations, prioritizing environmental impacts and eco-labeling.

PE Americas joined the Sustainability Consortium

PE Americas has joined the Sustainability Consortium, a group of independent scientists and engineers working to develop a global database of information on the lifecycle of products.

Managed by the University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center and the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University, the Sustainability Consortium will attempt to quantify the lifecycle of various consumer goods. These findings will identify sustainability hotspots throughout the value chain, helping retailers and suppliers move forward on the path to sustainability.

As the first Life Cycle Assessment /Sustainability consulting firm to join the Sustainability Consortium, PEA will be on the steering committee with involvement in the Sustainability Consortium’s working groups.
To quantify product impacts, the Sustainability Consortium will be using our GaBi software that supports the collection, organization, analysis, and monitoring of the environmental performance of products and processes.

LCA for the Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA)

PE Americas conducted a life-cycle assessment (LCA) for the Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA) to evaluate the environmental impact of corrugated packaging products. With such an LCA study, the CPA and its constituent associations can assist others in understanding and communicating the environmental footprint and environmental benefits associated with using corrugated. At the same time, this study helps describe the environmental impacts of corrugated’s different life-cycle stages in relation to overall environmental performance, and the potential environmental benefits of process improvements. Beyond the operations of a single manufacturing site or package specification, the study evaluates the environmental performance of an industry-average corrugated product throughout its entire life cycle.

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Tremendous challenges for the global business community

“We have to make significant changes in the way we design, manufacture, distribute and influence the use and disposal of our products/services.” says Nuno DaSilva, Managing Director of PE Americas.

Pressures on the world's environment require every company to realize their entire direct and indirect environmental impact and to become more sustainable. A company's impact on the environment however doesn't stop once their product or service is delivered to the customer or distribution channel. The environmental impact of how a product is used and ultimately disposed of is typically controlled or heavily influenced by the product's design, recommended use and disposal methods.

Companies therefore need to integrate an enterprise wide emissions based approach with an assessment of product/services to fully understand their complete environmental footprint. By identifying all direct and indirect environmental impacts your organization will be able to target 'hot spots' or key areas to implement sustainable initiatives / environmental management.

In an article for “business management” DaSilva reveals the best methodologies for measuring an organization’s environmental impact

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